Know Thy Muslim Neighbour -The Historicity of Prophets Muhammad, Isa (Yeshua / Jesus) & Yahya (Yohanan / John) (pbut) cannot be denied
Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed Yakub
Notary Public, Commissioner for Oaths, Advocate & Solicitor
This is the season when the majority of Muslims commemorate the birth of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) by reading the Prophet's life history and in keeping with the Quranic injunction to seek blessings and peace upon the Prophet, partake in congregations to invoke Allah's blessings and peace upon the Prophet. (Quran 33:53)
The large minority of Muslims who don't so commemorate, object to it on the basis that the beloved Prophet's birth should be commemorated throughout one's life, not only during a fixed season, in keeping with the Prophetic tradition of fasting every Monday.
Both groups mean well. If the commemoration is followed with a feast intending to feed the poor and the needy, and the rich is also invited so as to protect the honour of the poor and the needy, such that the event is not labelled an event for the poor and needy, we find wisdom in such a feast. We encourage the rich and self sufficient to partake in such a feast, to sit with the poor and needy, to show support as well as erase any class divisions within the community and pride within us.
When the Prophet was asked why he fasted on Mondays, he replied - It was the day on which I was born and on which I was commissioned with prophethood. Sahih Muslim 1162: Book 13, Hadith 253.
Muslims similarly invoke Allah's blessing upon Prophet Isa (Yeshua aka Jesus) pbuh, and Prophet Yahya (Yohanan aka John) pbuh every time they read the Quran in verses 15 and 33 of the Chapter named Maryam in honour of the mother of Prophet Isa.
It has now become fashionable to deny the historicity of the Prophets of Islam, Christianity and Judaism amongst western orientalists and liberalists.
For Muslims, it is an article of faith to believe in all the Prophets mentioned by name in the holy Quran, which include Prophet Muhammad, Isa (Yeshua aka Jesus) and Yahya (Yohanan aka John) (peace be upon them).
Muslims who deny the historicity of even one of the named Prophets in the Quran fall into disbelieve.
In about c. 1850 CE Sir William Muir and Alois Sprenger cast doubts on the Islamic traditions on Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) alleging without basis that the traditions were in fact forged. In 1971, further impetus to these lies were given by Ignaz Goldziher who added that the traditions about Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) grew after the Arab conquests of the civilised world. Princeton Prof Patricia Crone attempted to lend credence to these lies by denying that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was from Mecca and tried unsuccessfully to place Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in North Hijaz.
It is thus important for Muslims, especially the youth, as well of the people of faith to know the evidence Muslims have for the historicity of their Prophet and other Prophets.
Muslim's best evidence for the historicity of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is the Quran itself. Quranic manuscripts dated to within 30 years of the death of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) which have been carbon dated and studied by palaeographic experts are in existence.
Codex Sana (Palimpsest) 41%Preserved, Carbon dating 578-669 (95%) Palaeographic 7th to 8th C
Codex Mashad 90%Preserved, Carbon dating 7th C
Codex Wetzstein II 1913 85%Preserved, Carbon dating 662–765 (95.4%)
We have chosen to omit other codices as they were not as voluminous or close in time to the Prophet's demise.
A. The Muslim treaties with Christians in 1. Jerusalem in 636 AD signed by Caliph Umar and Patriarch Sophronius; and 2. in Egypt (Memphis) in 641 AD signed by 'Amr ibn el-As, clearly mentions the Prophet in the last line in both.
B. We find non-Muslim corroborative source for this treaty in the sermons and poems of St. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, C. 560 – 638, (Feast: March 11), a native of Damascus, who had lived 20 years near Jerusalem. In his diary written during his lifetime is stated - Sophronius was detained at home by the invasion of the Saracens. Mahomet had broached his impostures at Mecca, in 608, but being rejected there, fled to Medina, in 622. Aboubeker succeeded him in 634 under the title of Caliph, or vicar of the prophet. He died after a reign of two years. Omar, his successor, took Damascus in 636, and after a siege of two years, Jerusalem, in 638.
C. A faint penned note in a codex containing the Gospels according to Matthew and Mark, preserved on folio 1 of BL Add. 14,461, mentions Muhammad by name when stating his army's conquest of Galilee and Damascus in 635 AD and a subsequent failed attempt at re-conquest by the Roman's the following year. - A. Palmer (with contributions from S. P. Brock and R. G. Hoyland), The Seventh Century In The West-Syrian Chronicles Including Two Seventh-Century Syriac Apocalyptic Texts, 1993, Liverpool University Press: Liverpool (UK), pp. 2-3.
D. Sebeos, Bishop of the Bagratunis, writing in 40’s AH / 660’s CE, says of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as follows:
At that time a certain man from along those same sons of Ismael, whose name was Mahmet, a merchant, as if by God's command appeared to them as a preacher [and] the path of truth. He taught them to recognize the God of Abraham, especially because he was learnt and informed in the history of Moses. Now because the command was from on high, at a single order they all came together in unity of religion. Abandoning their vain cults, they turned to the living God who had appeared to their father Abraham. So, Mahmet legislated for them: not to eat carrion, not to drink wine, not to speak falsely, and not to engage in fornication. - R. W. Thomson (with contributions from J. Howard-Johnson & T. Greenwood), The Armenian History Attributed To Sebeos Part - I: Translation and Notes, 1999, Translated Texts For Historians - Volume 31, Liverpool University Press, pp. 95-96.
E. Khuzistan Chronicle, 40’s AH / 660’s CE, states as follows:
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Then God raised up against them the sons of Ishmael, as the sand on the sea shore, whose leader (mdabbrānā) was Muh?ammad (mh?md)...The Arabs gained countrol of Mahoze and all the territory. They also came to Byzantine territory, plundering and ravaging the entire region of Syria. Heraclius, the Byzantine king, sent armies against them, but the Arabs killed more than 100,000 of them. R. G. Hoyland, Seeing Islam As Others Saw It.
F. The Maronite Chronicle, circa 44 AH / 665 CE states : AG 971 (=660 CE):
"Many Arabs gathered at Jerusalem and made Mu?āwiya king and he went up and sat down on Golgotha and prayed there. He went to Gethsemane and went down to the tomb of the blessed Mary and prayed in it...
In July of the same year the emirs and many Arabs gathered and gave their allegiance to Mu?āwiya. Then an order went out that he should be proclaimed king in all the villages and cities of his dominion and that they should make acclamations and invocations to him. He also minted gold and silver, but it was not accepted because it had no cross on it. Furthermore, Mu?āwiya did not wear a crown like other kings in the world. He placed his throne in Damascus and refused to go to the seat of Mu?ammad." R. G. Hoyland, Seeing Islam As Others Saw It.
The inner arcade on the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, carries tiled mosaics Arabic Islamic Inscriptions from 72 AH / 692 CE reading Muh?ammad is the servant of God and His Messenger; and the outer arcade repeats 5 times Muh?ammad is the Messenger of God.
The copper plaque inscriptions at the Dome of the Rock on the eastern entrance mentions Muhammad on the 7th line and on the northern portal mentions Muhammad thrice, i.e. on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th lines. Readers having first hand photos of these plaques are invited to share it.
Jerusalem 32, an inscription witnessed by 3 companions of Prophet Mu?ammad in 32 AH / 652 CE. On the 4th line the protection of Allah and guarantee of His Messenger is clearly invoked.
Muslims who destroyed archaeological evidence and who persist in it do the greatest dis-service to Islamic and mankind's heritage.
Prophet Isa (Yeshua / Jesus) (pbuh)
Movies that deny the historicity of Prophet Jesus (e.g.?#Religulous &?#Zeitgeist) and social media channels that do likewise attempt to subvert faith.
Christians turned atheists take pleasure in disparaging Prophet Isa (Jesus) as inventions from ancient myths about dying and rising fertility gods, (e.g?Earl Doherty or?D. M. Murdock, writing under the pen name Acharya S).
Senator?Tacitus, the?Roman historian?referred to?Isa (Jesus),?his execution?by?Pontius Pilate, and the existence of?early Christians in Rome?in Annals?(written?ca.?AD 116),?book 15, chapter 44. Tacitus provides a non-Christian confirmation of the crucifixion of Isa (Jesus). Muslims accept that only appeared as though Prophet Isa (Jesus) was crucified.
Yosef (aka Flavius Josephus) (c. 37-95 A.D.) who was a Jewish priest and commander in Galilee, surrendered and became a prisoner of war. Yosef's fortunes turned when he aligned himself with the Roman rulers. He wrote The Jewish War and Jewish Antiquities in Greek.
In Jewish Antiquities Book 20, Yosef, for purposes of identifying Yacob, (aka Jacob and James) identified his brother Isa (Yeshua / Jesus) and to further clarify tagged, "who was perhaps the Messiah", to the name Isa.
Pliny the Younger and?Suetonius made references to followers of Christ and not to evidence of the historicity of Isa and thus I have chosen not to include them for our purposes.
Allegations that Christian Trinity was derived from Jewish scriptures are without basis. Judaism and Jews are monotheistic.
Prophet Yahya (Yohanan / John the Baptist) (pbuh)
The same Jewish historian mentioned above Yosef (aka Flavius Josephus) states that “he (Yahya) was a good man and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue through justice toward one another and piety toward God, and by so doing to arrive at immersion; for immersion would be acceptable to God only if practices not to expatiate sins but for purification of the body after the soul had first been thoroughly purified by righteousness.” Jewish Antiquities Book 18 Ch 5